Customer Service

Technical Support

Site Requirements

Helix Studios's website and videos can be viewed on any computer with a modern browser. All versions of Windows (except Windows 3.1), Mac OS X, or current version of Linux are supprted.

A broadband Internet connection such as DSL or Cable is recommended for watching streaming videos, but is not required. Dial-up users can download video to their computer before playback to avoid any buffering or choppiness. See below.

To watch videos on our website with your membership, you will need to be using modern web browser with Javascript and cookies enabled. We support Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer, Firefox 2.x or newer, Safari, Chrome and Opera. To get the best experience and safest browsing, we recommend using the latest Firefox, Safari or Chrome browsers.

The Adobe Flash player version 10 is required to play streaming videos. You can update or install the latest version at Adobe Flash Player

For downloaded videos can be played with Windows Media Player, Quicktime, iTunes, VLC or other video player

How to watch the videos

All videos on Helix Studios are available for streaming and download, and are DRM free. We provide several versions of the same video to suit your bandwidth and playback needs. You can download Quicktime or Windows Media versions, in either Small (320x240 and 320x180), Large (640x480 and 640x360), or HD (940x560 to 1280x720 - when available). Smaller files download faster. We also provide a streaming version that plays the video on the page much like a tube site.

Option 1 - Stream (Flash player)

Most videos are available for streaming with the built in flash player. Login to the members area, and select a video you would like to watch, and click the play icon that appears on the main picture of the video. The video will buffer for a few seconds, and begin playing.

Option 2 - Play with your media player

You can click directly on the video link. Your browser may launch your media player automatically and begin to play the file, or it may download the file to a temporary location, or it may prompt you to save the file or specify how you want to open it. Each browser behaves differently.

Option 3 - Download to your computer

You can download the video to a specific location on your hard drive. Each browser has a similar way of doing this. For example:

Internet Explorer: Right-click the link and then select "Save Target As.." from the popup menu that appears.

Firefox: (Windows) Right-click the link and then select "Save Link As..." from the popup menu.

Safari Control-click or right-click the link and then select "Download Linked File As...".

You will then be prompted for a location in which to save the file.

Downloading the file to your hard drive and then playing it from there is a good idea if the movie starts and stops playing while you are streaming it with the flash player.

To play the videos you will need either Windows Media, Quicktime, iTunes or VLC. Here are links to download them

Choppy video that starts and stops

Although Helix Studios's website is hosted on a world wide content delivery network that assures the fastest speeds for downloading and streaming videos to your computer, it is possible that you experience buffering or choppyness when watching videos. In such cases, you should check your wireless signal level, see if other people on your network are downloading large files, or if your computer has slowed down due to a virus or spyware.

In such situations, downloading the videos to your hard drive prior to viewing will avoid the start/stop problems.

An internet connection of at least 1 Mbps is recommended for watching the streaming videos. You can use this link to test your Internet Connection speed.

Open the Helix Studios Channel on your Roku to link your Player to your Helix Studios Account. You will be asked to login to our website and go to the linking URL http://www.helixstudios.net/members/roku/. Enter the code you see on your Roku in to the form on the page on your computer and click Submit. After 30 seconds, the channel will be linked to your Helix Studios account.

If you ever need to reset your Roku Player to facotry default settings, you will need to link your player again by folowing these steps.

For general support questions relating to your Roku Player, please refer to Roku's Support site.

Do you stream HD to the Roku Player?

Yes. All videos that are available on our site in HD are also available on the Roku in 720p HD. Older videos will be in 480p Standard Defition. The picture quality on your Roku depends on your Internet Connection speed and the quality of your network. The Roku will automaticaly adjust picture quality by assessing your network speed. You will need a connection with at least 3 Mbps to enjoy full 720p HD videos.

Contacting Support

If you have a problem that you cannot resolve, please use our contact form to send an email to our support staff. Please make sure that you include as much information as possible, including your username, your email address, a complete description of the problem with as much detail as possible (include any steps needed to reproduce the problem), and a description of your system, including hardware, operating system, which browser and media player you are using, and what type of Internet connection you have.